My Last Dirge
by Broken Mantra
Summary: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Sasuke knew this all too well. How do you overthrow the manifestation of your sins and gain forgiveness; that's simple, with sacrifice. Set: end of 4th shinobi war, WRN: Graphic Violence during the first few chapters. Hurt/Comfort/Angst subtle Romance; Sasuke/Sakura Spoilers of Epic proportions within.
1. Prologue

This will be a work, told entirely from Sasuke's perspective (which I think is strange, I don't see it much) therefore, there will be no exceedingly confusing thought breaks between parties. If I were to get into the specifics of just how everyone felt at any given time, I feel it would take away from the substance. This is a preface warning that this is story has very graphic beginnings, but it seems my muse is outgrowing her angst with my old age. I'm still no 'Fluffy-Shipper' :( But I would say, it get's more optimistic, just a really rough start. :)

Reviews are more than welcome. As long as it's of the constructive sort.

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_Cruelty comes easily,_

_Hate visits naturally,_

_Compassion is fearful,_

_Regret is all-consuming._

Chaos is an event of beauty.

Nothing is ever more perfectly human than the realization of impending mortality.

A pale, dark-haired man watched flame kiss sky over the Village he once called his home. A strange water-color of orange and reds attempting to overthrow the black hue of the night. There were no stars tonight. Even if there had been, it would be impossible to see them due to the heavy, low-lying smoke.

Faint screams echoed at nearly an inaudible pitch, causing his ears to tense and relax.

Faceless bodies ran undirected and with no logic, trying with no avail to run from the presence of their 'end'.

He understood the nature of humans was simply to run. Run and preserve. He wanted them to run as far away from this calamity as they possibly could, he needed no more blood of lambs staining his pale hands. He couldn't be accountable for the impending unknown.

He wondered if he was even human, the more frantically most ran from their fear, the harder and more demanding the inward pull of that same fear was to him.

He openly welcomed the chaos; there was no grief in his heart, there was nothing but knowing that what is done is in fact done and the sins of the past are hard pressed to be washed away.

With his thoughts perfectly orchestrated, his body moved as lightning to the resonant heat of the flame, directly to the eye of the conflict, the epicentre of chaos.

He knew what he would see there, it would be no surprise to him. The only variable in his mind was simply if he cared enough to walk out of that very flame alive.

He knew he was no savior. He knew he was no martyr.

For reasons unknown, he pressed on intent on making the flames and the dirge of the End of Days halt.

His carefully trained, antique eyes locked on to the cause of this chaos.

He has no comrades. His only friends are his blade and eyes.

With a deliberate motion, his katana freed it's self from its sheath and a flourish of lightning dominated the sky.

He got its attention.

The rest simply comes down to who errs first.

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_So concludes the prologue, don't rage at the length, there is still a lot more to come.  
_


	2. Acta Est Fabula

**_Conquer the angry man by love._**  
**_Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness._**  
**_Conquer the miser with generosity._**  
**_Conquer the liar with truth.  
-The Dhammapada_**

The dimly lit, starch-white cave saw it all.

The beginning and the end.

A young man sat amongst the stalagmites on his knees, sword discarded at his side. His dark head bowed at the floor.

Around him, a crystalline dust settled. Offering an ethereal reminder that the last few hours with his brother had not been delusion, dream or nightmare.

Before his knees, a concentrated pile of this dust settled, the lack of wind in the cave offered an uneasy and heavy peace. Mere feet from that same dust was the quickly rotting form of one Yakushi Kabuto, his face contorted into a mixture of torture, horror, disbelief and a faint hint of a monster that would haunt urban legends.

Sasuke had dispatched Kabuto after his brother had dismissed the Impure Resurrection. Rendering all those under its control into dust, Uchiha Itachi included.

Fate was not fair to Uchiha Sasuke. He had been witness to many of his clansmen's mortal end as a young child, and now as a man he was forced to bear witness once again to his own brother's demise. He was now, a man truly alone in the world, before this crossroads in time he had always considered himself alone but this kind of isolation hinted permanence.

With the truth ringing out in his heart like a bell, he allowed himself to shed one solitary tear in memory of the man who had loved him so he spared his life years ago. Who was in this tomb to witness to a moment of weakness? Three men entered this grave and one will walk out. The secret tear dying amongst the rocks. An action as simple as a tear, he refused to allow since the night of his familial slaughter. For a tear would show emotional weakness, and Sasuke was not weak.

A lifetime of false-truths plagued him and would surely never recede. To have been spoon-fed lies and deceit as a child with a heart still so young was gravely unforgivable. He was confounded, he knew not what to hate more; himself or the country that manipulated his brother.

He knew it was always easier to place the blame elsewhere than to accept the blame and see it written in blood on a mirror.

He ripped the right sleeve of his shirt completely off his arm and neatly split the seam making a nearly perfect, wide rectangle of white. Carefully he laid the cloth across his lap; delicately he picked up a handful of the remnants of his last remaining clansman, his beloved brother, Itachi. He placed the sparkling dust into the center of the cloth, folded it tightly into itself, tied it securely and deposited it into his nearly empty travel pack.

Sasuke knew that the fall of Kabuto and of the masses revived by the impure resurrection was not the only matter of grave importance. Madara Uchiha was still very much a living, breathing, and tangible threat.

Weary, heavy hearted and battle scarred, he exited the cave; his faithful kusanagi in his hand. He couldn't grieve too long, his work with Madara, far and farther still from over.

A small voice, reaching forward from the farthest shelves of his mind chided his resolve.

_**"To wish to die is the most damning of all sin, it's far past time you atone... Your blood will be the price of your salvation. A drop of blood for every tear shed by actions you've taken, decisions you've made. I will not claim my bounty now, for it would surely end you... and nothing would be gained."**_

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_Thank you for reading, I'm actually really flattered I got so many hits for something under 500 words. A review would be nice, but traffic is traffic and i'm certainly not one to complain.**  
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	3. Misdirection

Sasuke moved deliberately, he didn't rush his progression to Konoha.

He knew Madara would surely take his time there; the things he had yet to gather would be fiercely protected. He knew many would die in order to spare Naruto's life, to any other man resistance would be futile but if he could give credit to his native land for anything, it was their unwavering resolve to defend those like them, their comrades, friends and colleagues. The will of fire; perhaps it never truly left Sasuke, just evolved into some sick depiction of confused and misdirected hate.

He didn't dare run. He had thoughts to collect, chakra to regenerate, wounds to mend and a plan to formulate. He was aware that every second that passed, more life would be lost, but that battle was not on him. Those casualties weren't engraved on his consciousness. They were not his responsibility.

His responsibility was simply to his brother, the memory of him. His brother so loved Konoha, he murdered his entire family save for himself in order to protect a home he would never call home again. A part of him felt indebted to protect that home, not because he loved Konoha. Not because he hated his family, not because he felt a particular obligation to. He went there to garner his last grain of revenge, and to purchase that revenge, KOnoha would be protected by his hand for once. In hopes to clear the red from the ledger of his life, the Hell he had created. He thought the fall of Madara would more than adequately clear out that red, that unspoken debt he owed to so many. That was his swan song; Debts are paid and balances are zero.

He always had a grudge, a rather large axe to grind over the injustices he selfishly dwelled upon. An old dog could learn new tricks, but it surely wouldn't forget the old.

His brother's blood stained his hands. Blood shed not just to appease the want his psyche demanded of him, but blood shed to spare the man who'd killed his own family on an order. With Itachi's death, they were both granted a false peace.

The absurdity of it all astounded him.

He questioned his brother's intentions, he questioned the place he called home as a boy, he silently questioned every face in that town that had smiled at him and paid condolences to his fallen family.

This is where the conflict set in. For the first time in his life, Sasuke was unable to place blame anywhere.

Did he blame his family for wanting to overthrow the leaders of Konoha?

Did he blame his brother for fulfilling his duty as a sworn protector of Konoha?

Did he blame the council and the Hokage for issuing the order to kill his family?

Did he blame himself for killing his brother, the very man who single handedly exterminated their family alike?

There were so many questions.

Questions he would never get answers to, and there was nothing he could do to change this. These answers, long dead in the decomposing matter of the various parties involved.

Breaking from his reverie, he looked down and noticed his hands were visibly shaking. External manifestations of anxiety had never shown on Uchiha Sasuke until now, he thought it odd but pressed on. He deemed he would reach Konoha in six hours given he kept his leisurely pace. He was more than capable of running; his endurance was formidable but something told him he didn't want to be the first attendee at his own funeral.

To Sasuke, Madara was more of an ideal than a person. He wanted to create peace using death and submission. It was strangely similar in thought to his own mantra of existence; he craved death, excellence and submission in order to give himself peace. Perhaps he started shaking when he realized that he and Madara were not that different.

Sasuke acknowledged to himself, that if he hadn't met his brother, revived by a bastard jutsu, he would be at Madara's right, laying siege to his home just the same.

Madara had told him the truth well after the young man claimed Itachi's life. That truth left him on the door step of physical illness and taking his own life. He told him Konoha betrayed the Uchihas, that Itachi carried out his duties as a shinobi of Konoha, and that the entire nation was corrupt and needed to be exterminated. When there was no more of the lesson to be taught, he realized he had done the unthinkable and not even death would welcome him. He would be damned a wraith to live in purgatory for the rest of eternity. There would be no father or mother waiting for him when the last breath of air left his body, there would only be nothingness, non-matter, non-existence and absolute zero.

For him to hear the motives, for him to hear the very words and the emotion coming out of his own brother's mouth, it didn't lay tracks to rage, it gave him a sliver of peace. It was unfortunate and cruel his brother was not able to receive peace in death, he was raised from the grave as a tool, but for Sasuke, as the younger brother of Uchiha Itachi, he thanked Kabuto in a sick and perverse way. Wordlessly, they put to rest the grudge of decades, the consommé of hate that had been festering in his gut for years.

When he fought along side his brother, not against, to draw arms with the man he held in such high regard as a child, the man he wanted to be when he grew up; that singular battle gave him deliverance. In a way he was very much like Itachi, but Sasuke was much more of a coward admittedly.

Perhaps, if Sasuke knew the truth, his mantra of vengeance would have been misdirected. He would have risen against Konoha which would have further sullied his brother's dreams and wishes. Perhaps it was better that things worked out this way. He was still a man of his word and promise, his brother was dead, Kabuto was dead, and Madara would be dead… in time. He paled when he realized so much of his identity was fused so profoundly with death and the act of taking life.

Onward he marched, the Prodigal Son returning to the home he shunned for all the wrong reasons. Returning to the birthplace of the bonds he so freely severed without question, bonds that were never intended for him to break.

He didn't know what would await him at the gates of Konohagakure. Hell on earth; fire and brimstone and sulfur. Slowly, a will and fire, long dead and dormant, rose up in the depths of his once dead heart. He had no option of failure. His brother loved this land and Sasuke assisted it its undoing, he would be more than damned if he failed to stop this, failed to do anything. If he sat idly by and let his home concede to hell.

When his eyes met the long forgotten, familiar gates all he saw was fire touching the sky. He sighed heavily and proceeded on.

For the first time in his miserable, self-righteous existence, he questioned himself.


	4. Great Loss, Greater Resolve

I would like to say, thank you to all of you who have Favorited, Alerted and the dedicated few who've reviewed this story. It is much appreciated.

I would like to take a moment to let you know where my inspiration has come from during the course of this story. I have been reading the Dhammapada and it is truly something that just inspired me. Hence, the brief excerpts I've included. (On another note, the formatting is driving me insane. I'll fix it later, ugh.) Also, this will get confusing, but it will make sense in time.

Without further adieu, here is the next installment.

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_**"He who formerly was reckless and afterwards became sober brightens up this world like the moon when freed from clouds." **_

_**- The Dhammapada**_

Even before Sasuke had laid eyes upon the gates of Konoha, the smoke hung in the air for miles. A dry ache worked itself over and over, onto itself in the pit of his stomach.

For the first time, in his adult life he felt genuine and unadulterated fear. This fear was not the fear of death; it was the fear of the unknown. The Fear that rooted itself as a tree and presenting a variable that would decide the lives of thousands. He felt powerless, but most importantly, he felt very mortal.

Still not rushing, still attempting to query himself internally for some semblance of a strategy he moved toward the heat, the smoke, and the flame.

The external stimuli made him subconsciously want to run away or run faster toward it. The fine line between the two made him confused and further stirred the already screaming doubts within him; the human instinct of self-preservation battling in earnest against the mind's command to confront and conquer.

Very few times had he been so truly conflicted. He continued on, exceedingly humbled with every calculated step that carried him closer to destiny.

The dynamic within the gates shifted as gravely and violently as the ash belching forth from the Hokage tower exploding onto itself.

Surrounding him were nameless faces, civilians; swarming and writhing and taking on a life of mass on their own. Indescribable fear etched across their faces, the claws of that fear taking hold deep into their souls. The seemingly endless numbers of villagers fleeing, the screaming and hysteria they created would carry for miles. The sound as a cumulative, far beyond a fever pitch. The environment called out for hope but only hopelessness answered.

In great droves, black shadow figures moved through the very living crowd metriculating around him. Those shadows reducing hundreds to limbs and innards within brief seconds. The gore was far beyond anything he had ever experienced and farther still from anything he could dream in his own psychotic delusions. Carnage of this magnitude can only be of legend, should never be remembered to avoid giving it a life of it's own.

The slowly knotting ache of fear took hold of him at just the right moment, causing the proud Uchiha to flee, gracelessly, from a faceless shroud. The contact, at that very moment would have been the end of him had he not conceded himself to the dirt.

"_Fear is indeed useful young Sasuke. When there is no hope, the only law left is that of fear. Heed these words, you will certainly need them."_

With wide eyes, and trembling limbs he gathered himself from the ground he so callously flung himself to just moments prior. The unknown voice ringing in his head, he didn't recognize it, but knew it was not his. The voice felt familiar, and in it's daunting, it gave him something tangible, a tool to grapple with in order to firm his resolve.

For a few infinite moments, he watched the carnage play out around him in dumbstruck disbelief.

Elders, women, children, shinobi and dignitary alike all struck down in the cruelest of ways. To not be able to see the face of your enemy, delivering you to the ferry-man is indeed a sin in the land of shinobi. These fiends had no faces; they seemed to lack even substance or reality. These were beings of anti-matter. There was no way in his analytical mind that these monstrosities were 'real'.

He knew he couldn't strike down every one of the endless shadow fiends, that much was out of the question. He had to find some means of conveyance. There was something giving diction to the demons, he needed to find that something, internally, he already knew it was Madara.

He had to locate Madara, and in great haste.

He considered it a brief gift of luck that he knew Madara so well. He knew the man would be relishing in the chaos, drinking in the fear like an exceedingly rare and aged wine, bathing in the bloodshed and screaming. The only way to locate him would be from the area which would allow him the greatest visual of the macabre acts playing out in the once noble village.

A majority of the buildings had been reduced to rubble. The once proud monument of the prior Hokages had been defaced, showing nothing but an emaciated cliff side with the heads of legends resting precariously on the homes which resided directly underneath them.

Chaos was indeed the only word which could describe the present moment.

Every building leveled, returned to the Earth as all good things are intended. Every scream silenced by unknown means.

Konoha was lost.

Sasuke removed his kusanagi and began moving toward the center of the once lively town. He weaved through the surving masses like a thread in the hands of a skilled seamstress. No one took notice of him, they were too focused on the sliver of survival.

He had returned to his home without fanfare and celebration or jeers of the residents cursing his name and wishing him death. In that moment, one of his endless fears had been dismissed, and with it a great weight lifted from his shoulders. He feared acceptance just as he feared rejection. The fact that he had to deal with neither given these circumstances only put moartar in the bricks of his resolve, grain by grain.

He activated the curse of his family and concentrated on finding the source of the madness, the inoperable and malignant tumor that is Uchiha Madara.

His eyes settled on the man. Standing in the middle of the town's fountain which at present, was running red with blood and littered with countless bodies of those unfortunate souls who had fallen at his feet.

Madara stood in the midst, an expression of disturbed glee etched across his face. The joy scrawled across his ancestor's face called to something primal that resides within every shinobi, no matter their lineage, past, present or future. That primal call to Sasuke was action, action to quell the unjust.

**_"Though one were to defeat thousands upon thousands of men in battle, if another were to overcome just one - himself, he is the supreme victor."_**

**_- The Dhammapada_**

With a motion, even a very stream would envy; Sasuke brandished his kusanagi and a great light erupted over his home. A light that quelled the autumn pumpkin shade of flame replacing it with a bright white. Only if for a moment, there was peace as enemy and survivor alike looked to the sky in abject awe.

Time stopped in the moment their kin eyes connected.

_**"Reap now the fruits of your sin Sasuke Uchiha. Let us see just how far your fall from grace continues."...**_


	5. The Ancestor

Silence.

The sort of silence able to steal the rhythm from your heart and the very air from your lungs, replacing it only with a tangible sense of dread. Silence that a fool would mistake for death. This is the breed of silence that overtook Konoha.

Madara was an imposing man to say the very least. He stood what seemed to be heads taller than any man Sasuke had ever seen. His body broad, face; unforgiving and gaze; something one could only conjure in their darkest nightmares. Fire, chaos, blood and carnage cast him into an entirely new visage. A demon with a face so very much like his own, his once hot blood shifted to a disturbing ice.

He thought he was heartless before, he understood what he achieved only scratched the surface of soulless.

This was Uchiha Madara, a monster; a beast of nightmare. The only, terrifying difference was that Uchiha Madara had existed, and continues to exist now with a false pulse and wicked mind.

Those ancient eyes, so alike, yet so different exchanged a thousand words, lies and truths.

The elder tore his gaze away from the young man born of kin lineage and smiled. A stranger would mistake this for sincerity.

Not Sasuke. That smile bore nothing but smug superiority and boasted a main line into future-sight.

Madara considered this battle won when Sasuke pursued him to his very home.

The bait had been laid.

In Madara's mind, Sasuke took it without complaint.

"Young, young Sasuke." Madara's smooth, dark and articulate voice ripped Sasuke from his inner workings and brought him very much back to the present.

"Such a pleasure to see you here. I'm sure you've come for the main event."

"I'm here for no such thing." Sasuke stated coolly, trying his damnedest to mask the tremor taking hold of his throat.

"Ah, I figured as such. I'm not pleased with you, although I do appreciate you tying up the loose end I had pending with Kabuto." The elder said, dismissing the annoyance with a wave of his hand.

He turned on his heel and proceeded very slowly to Sasuke, who had yet to uproot himself from his current position.

With Madara drawing near, the fine hairs on his arms and neck began to stand on end, the physical signs warning him that what neared was not of borne good intent.

"Now boy, I implore you. Stop this foolhardy quest for revenge will you? If revenge is to be exacted, is it to be on a scale that will make you a legend and make generations tremble at the mention of your name." The elder quipped, audible annoyance in his voice moving ever closer still to the motionless young man.

Sasuke replied with silence. Silence had worked so well for him so many years; he was hoping his luck with lack of communication would continue.

"I did this. You didn't do this. Your petty grudge didn't do this. Your brother had no part in this. I am a creator Sasuke. Now kneel and beg for your life."

Without his mind's command, his body rendered itself onto one knee, neck angled and eyes downcast at the grayish dirt.

"See I've done the hardest part for you. Now. Pledge your allegiance to me, or you die with the rest of these mottled souls."

With tears stinging his eyes, he pressed the lids together for all he was worth, body shaking in his mind's attempt to ascertain some semblance of control.

He could feel it.

HIS will moving through his body, working it's way from his stomach to his fingertips.

He could feel his resolve.

At the feet of Uchiha Madara, Sasuke came to many conclusions in mere seconds. He realized that from birth, he was destined to be nothing more than a pawn. He was a tool, just as his brother was. This was how his life was to be played out. He could have made different choices that would have altered this path but the ends would always remain the same.

This moment at another man's feet was absolutely necessary for him. It took this level of destruction, pain and suffering for him to be humbled. For Sasuke to realize that every action bears consequences, and a lifetime of sordid actions bore equally sordid consequences.

He created this end, so by the laws of balance, he could stop this. His hatred had fueled an anger centuries stewing, he was the catalyst.

Sasuke choked out, still attempting to regain complete control of his body.

"I bow for no man."

With reflexes carefully honed for all the wrong reasons, he shot to his feet and lifted his sword right to his eye level; Madara's neckline.

"Oh child! By all means, if you're able, strike me down and save the day! However, I know you dear Child you've bartered with Hell for these abilities as have I. I suppose we shall see who wagered more…" Madara snorted before jumping away from him, just as the kusanagi parted air.

Madara stood feet away, merely taunting him.

"I see boy, hesitation in your blade bears hesitation in your heart." Madara's bellowing voice rang out before the imposing man vanished behind Sasuke.

"But it will take more than that small feat to best me." The older man stated as a nearly identical kusanagi tore into Sasuke's shoulder blade, grateful that the bone stopped further progression, this had been a warning blow.

He refused to let himself show pain. Pain was not something he could afford on this battlefield. He left himself open and he deserved the shallow wound, but moved out of arms length of the monster and turned once more to face him.

"Very nice old man, I'd like to see you try that again." Sasuke had never been happier to have been a master of the bluff, inside what was left of his tattered soul was shaking in fear but his determination was slowly reining it in.

"Quite the mouth you've got young one. You certainly didn't take after your dear brother in that regard did you?" Madara chided, wiping the blood stained blade on the nameless corpse nearby.

Sasuke moved to strike him again only to be met with air after each attempt. He knew Madara's power was in genjutsu. His best option was to keep this fight physical and avoid use of the sharingan in no other capacity than to read subtle movement.

Madara had centuries to master the final, most perfect stage of the sharingan and Sasuke was no fool. If they met sharingan to sharingan, he would fail utterly.

A moment of brilliance struck him. He couldn't be affected by what he couldn't see. He hadn't noted the sharingan being active in the old man's eyes. For once, he thanked small blessings.

His survival depended on keeping his eyes shut. It would be his key to victory or an embarrassing testament to his end. However, it was an insanely steep risk. Uchiha Sasuke didn't like to take unnecessary risk, but this risk was mandatory.

With his sharingan still activated, and his eyes closed he was pleasantly surprised to discover he could 'see' in grays and reds, silhouettes and chakra. Perhaps he wasn't at such a loss after all.

**_"You can still shut your eyes and bear witness. You must bear witness Sasuke. No matter the pain you must see."_**


	6. Means to an End

After a few moments of allowing himself to acclimate to seeing through an odd mix of his blood line gift and his own chakra, he was pleasantly surprised to notice that the current chaotic environment seemed less distracting.

The screams of the few remaining citizens still remained but the distraction of seeing those expressions on countless faces all but disappeared.

While taking in his surroundings, he took note of the only color present in his monochrome vision; Red. Rouge that can hardly be described with words, a type of red that seemed to pulse with an unspoken life and steal your attention in the most hypnotic of ways.

After prolonging the inevitable, he directed his attention to the elder clansman, only to note the presence of a fine line of that red making its way from the sour curve of his mouth down toward his chin.

Sasuke smirked if only for the simple reason that the single red line signified something immensely important.

Uchiha Madara is in fact mortal.

As the old shinobi adage goes, if a person can bleed they can surely die.

"Now I see the blatant fear in your face little Sasuke!" Madara bellowed, allowing him to be overcome with a taunting laughter that sets Sasuke's very blood aflame. "You don't even have the resolve to open your eyes, oh dear child. If you conceded yourself to death, all you had to do was ask." At the close of his taunt, Madara seemed to glide closer to Sasuke.

Only Sasuke noticed that everything appeared to be moving very, very slowly. To him, it seemed that Madara was leisurely walking toward him, yet the pitch and tension of the older man's muscles indicated sprinting.

Sasuke stilled for the barest of moments, unsure if the unusually slow execution was a trick of his eyes or a trick of Madara's. He was in no position to unwaveringly trust anything at this point.

A false move would end his life and any opportunity of doing the one service his brother would have approved of.

After contending with himself, he decided against every grain of better judgment packed neatly into his overtly analytical mind that he would allow Madara to rush him. Only to gauge just what was going on within the odd fluxion of time.

For what felt like eternity Sasuke saw Madara running, so agonizingly slowly toward him that he wondered if he should move too in order to speed up the experiment. He decided against it and readied himself to dodge or parry the offensive action.

With the elder gaining ground and getting precariously closer, Sasuke took note of the katana being unsheathed in the same agonizingly slow fashion as the rest of the world was spinning.

The entire experience seemed oddly surreal to him, almost like Madara was wading unsuccessfully through a quickly drying pit of concrete.

Sasuke allowed himself moments to look around the area only to see that everyone was moving at the same turtle pace. Feeling the need to further test this oddity, he 'looked' down at his hand and moved it slowly only to find it reacted as it should.

He shuffled his feet into the dirt. His feet moved at their required pace however the fine dust particles kicked up by the action hung in the air for what seemed like entirely too long.

Feeling a bit bolder he looked toward his front again, making an unofficial sight contact with Madara; his blade gleaming high above his head primed to swing the metal down onto his own flesh.

Sasuke moved his arm and kusanagi to parry, and in comparison to the sluggish movements of the world around him, the action was a blur of speed.

He had time to see the expression on Madara's face change from superiority and arrogance, to utter surprise and disbelief.

Sasuke noted nuances that most shinobi don't have the luxury of noticing in the midst of heated battle.

Still utterly confused about just what is occurring to his relation to time itself, he hears a voice call out over what seemed to be a low humming static.

"I can assure you, boy that whatever you did to avoid that blow was simply blind luck and it will not happen again." Madara started, an agitated edge taking unabashed hold of his voice.

Sasuke noted the voice as Madara's, but the speech hadn't been slowed abnormally like the rest of what seemed to be going on around him. After a gracious chunk of time, Sasuke noted that Madara's mouth was still moving, miming the ending of his admittedly shallow threat.

**_I see you've finally got the picture…._**

Sasuke pressed forward toward the elder, he still needed to be absolutely certain of the current parameters of this time-linked oddity. His focus never left Madara.

When his foot came off the ground, starting the movement forward, he took note of a look of unmistakable panic spread across Madara's face. He looked around agonizingly slowly from side to side.

"Where are you?" The elder man exclaimed, still mouthing the end of his question.

Sasuke audibly laughed.

Either he was moving extremely fast, or the world had slowed to a snail's pace.

He still needed to figure out exactly what anomaly was going on in this area so he started eliminating the variables.

He had no genjutsu cast; he had nothing on him that he normally didn't aside from his brother's remnants and the addition of pseudo-vision by way of sharingan and chakra. It finally clicked.

He didn't know what to expect when he prompted himself to open his true eyelids, but he made certain his back was to Madara to avoid any kind of accidental genjutsu entrapment.

The second his true eyes met the sunlight, everything seemed to travel at a mind blowing speed considering the prior pace which felt like hours but had only been minutes.

Hearing the heavy, sandal laden footsteps running toward him with reckless abandon coupled with the heavy breath of his pursuer, he shut his eyes just before he would have expected contact under normal conditions. Turning around he took note of Madara, again appearing to lunge at him with a look of confusion etched into his ancient features and a kunai in hand.

Sasuke moved out of the way just before impact to see the older man struggle to regain his balance.

The more sadistic part of Sasuke determined that he could do this all day, if nothing more than to simply drive Madara mad.

**_Don't get too arrogant…. And certainly don't take 'gifts' for granted…_**

Sasuke took note of the familiar yet implacable, and feminine voice. He had come here to end Madara, and by some cause and effect of something he had never experienced before he had been blessed with this slight conflict time seemed to have with his sharingan.

Wiping the amusement from his face, he turned and assumed post directly behind Uchiha Madara.

He could tell from the man's sluggish movement that he was desperately attempting to lock on to his attacker's location.

Sasuke stretched his hands out carefully and let them waver on either side of Madara's still slowly turning head.

He took a few settling breaths before allowing his hands to make contact with his elder's flesh. His fingertips settled over the man's ears before turning his neck sharply to the left. A sick pop and subtle muscular resistance let him know this was real.

Never one to leave a job unfinished, Sasuke wrenched the neck from the left to the right in the same violent fashion. He removed his hands from the man's head and watched him fall, unceremoniously to the ground, no arms moving to prepare for bracing, no stiffness in the muscles and finally upon impact; face first mind you, Sasuke saw his head bounce off the dirt while his feet were still in transit to earth.

Shock.

Afraid to assume anything regarding the most diabolical Uchiha in history, Sasuke very slowly opened his eyes. There was no more red cast to the sky, the fires raged and would for days until rain came or the fire simply ran out of means to burn.

The shadow fiends were nowhere to be found. People were standing huddled together sharing a look of sheer confusion mixed with relief and grief.

Sasuke looked down at his feet, and indeed that is where Uchiha Madara lay.

He sheathed his sword and bent down over the body, still overtly cautious in case this had all been some kind of fluke to trigger his hallmark of arrogance.

He rolled the man onto his back, his head twisting in disturbing ways on its short journey, and saw nothing indicative of life.

To say he was happy would be the truth, but he had expected a much more _Exceptional _battle with Madara. He was mildly disappointed, still happy but he didn't feel that this victory was exceptionally rewarding. He had expected more. Or perhaps the odd lapse in time would be more of a detail that no one needed to know about, when he finally decided to repeat the tale. He was still vain at heart.

He stood once more and looked carefully over the body. He unsheathed his kusanagi once more and drove the appliance straight through the dead man's heart, he half expected him to shoot up at which point, they would commence round two, but when nothing of the sort happened he let go of the handle, allowing the sword to stand sky-bound from the corpse.

He remembered something his mother had said many years ago when he was a boy at Shisui's funeral. His mother's sister had placed two coins on her son's eyelids, he remembered asking his mother what his aunt was doing and she told him it was money for the ferry-man who would take you to where you were deemed go in the afterlife.

With a smirk, he dug into his shallow pockets and removed two silver pieces. He tousled them in his palms momentarily, then knelt down and placed one over each of the man's eyelids effectively weighing them shut.

"No chance the ferry-man will forget about you now…" He spoke softly under his breath.

He hadn't realized the group of shinobi surrounding him until it was too late.

From the crowd a familiar face pushed her way through the throngs of people. Panic etched into her green eyes and her normally hibiscus colored hair now colored rust from blood.

She looked battle weary and broken, that observation was something he could have done without.

When the girl known as Sakura in another lifetime breached the front line she only stared at him for what seemed like eternity. An expression so hard and unreadable maiming her already fractured appearance only made the urge for him to look away stronger.

Tensely, she moved closer to him. Traitorous tears were threatening to fall from her eyes. Tears he didn't want to see so he finally looked away.

**_You have to bear witness… Remember?_**

The unknown voice commanded him within a deep realm of his psyche and against his own better judgment he took her in.

Sakura looked so withered, exhausted and broken it turned his nerves onto themselves. The look in her eyes made him all but forget that the largest threat in the history books of any of the shinobi nations lay dead at his feet by his own bare hands.

At first he didn't recognize the expression until the first and only of her tears fell. That expression was contempt.

He allowed himself to be completely lost in his mind, thinking about just how 'alien' she appeared to be right now among the several other unreconciled emotions that he felt whenever he was unfortunate enough to remember this waif of a girl. He was only broken out of it by the feel of a sharp, stinging sheet of white-hot pain festering against his cheek.

Sakura had slapped him.

The ridiculousness of the thought nearly made him laugh out loud, however the pain was real and the shock was even more tangible. Haruno Sakura had literally slapped him.

With her hand still hanging threateningly in the short distance between them, she didn't look afraid of him even though she should; the only discernible emotion apparent in her features was disgust.

Just as quickly as her hand made contact with his face, her fist made contact with his jaw, popping the thin bone out of place and knocking him out cold.


	7. The Past Smells Like Bleach

I'm not a huge fan of author's notes, but I have to share what I listen to when writing this, not only is it great music, it's actually fitting. Primarily I have the album Ex-Lives by Every Time I Die (Wanderlust was a great motivation on this peace) on repeat and a good amount of Taking Back Sunday.

On a story related note, Sasuke came back; Yay. Madara is dead; Yay-er? It's going to be cupcakes and sprinkles from now on right? Not even close. There are still consequences, but we will get to find out just what happened to all the regulars in due time.

**On another note, I'm in dire, dire need of an editor of some sort. If anyone is interested please message me. I'd gladly return the favor.**

* * *

Through a maze of fuzzy thoughts he believed were dreams, Sasuke realized one thing more prominantly than anything else while he attempted to coax himself from an unnatural sleep.

His head was splitting right in half from pain.

Before he tried to open his eyes, he took a moment to gather information. Primarily, that he was laying in a comfortable bed in a completely sterile smelling place. It was completely stagnant in the bleach scented room. He could see a pink flush over his eyes, normal for sunlight trying to filter through his still closed eyelids.

With great care, he peeled his eyes open. Seventeen figures, still indescript stood in the 10x15 room. After a few moments of allowing his eye sight to adjust, he deduced that twelve were heavily armed ANBU guards, one was an older blonde woman, His silver haired teacher , his blonde former teammate, his pink haired former teammate, and a nurse with a terrified expression on her face when she realized her patient had regained consciousness.

Sasuke attempted to sit up in the hospital bed only to find that he was far beyond restrained, his chakra drained and his limbs bound to the bed. He was fully incapacitated.

When the others present in the room took notice of the man's stirrimg, the blonde female cleared her throat and began speaking.

"Formalities aside Uchiha Sasuke, I am Tsunade,Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. You are in a hospital and consider yourself in the custody of this village for crimes you knowingly committed against it."

He turned his head toward the Hokage and didn't speak a word, which was his indicator for her to continue.

"From this hospital, in the very immediate future, you will be remanded to the prison system running underneath this village, from there you will await your sentence by our council of elders and peers. I will tell you now, we are in your debt for the neutralization of Uchiha Madara and Yakushi Kabuto respectively however, your blood lines and relations to some of my closest consults will offer you no leniency. A man only has hisword when everything else is stripped away. Your track record shows that your word is garbage." The elder blonde stated very matter of factly before turning her attention to his pink haired teammate.

"Sakura, dress the wounds you inflicted then leave. This young man and I have MUCH to discuss." She ordered.

Sasuke let a moment of contemplation over come him, why was Sakura being told to dress wounds she inflicted on him? Then the memory of a surprisingly powerful fist making contact with his jaw made his face tingle and embarassment surface in the confines of his mind.

He watched Sakura move to his bedside, her eyes downcast and for once in his life he wanted to tell her to quit questioning herself, especially after she crushed his jawbone. Some things never ceased to annoy him.

Their eyes met, and for a moment Sasuke thought he would have to deal with an overly tear filled hug.

A loud slap echoed off the bare walls of the hospital.

His face stung again, and he was almost sure he felt his recently mended jaw split again.

"OUT!" The voice he recognized as Tsunade bellowed.

Sakura turned on her heels and left through the door without fanfare.

For a moment, he thought everyone in the overly small room was laughing at him for allowing a woman to strike him like that. He couldn't blame her though, he broke her trust. He broke the trust of every person standing at attention in this small room in one way or another. If a slap was the worst of his punishment, aside from the imprisonment, he considered it a blessing.

The blonde woman moved to his bedside and sat carefully on the edge of the bed. Her hands began glowing an easy shade of green before she moved them to his face.

"You should be lucky your head is still attached to your body. " She stated, he couldn't decide if it was an attempt to start conversation or not so he remained silent.

The feeling of this woman's chakra fixing his cracked and assumingly bruised jaw bone was extremely relieving. He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Don't take our generosity for granted you tempermental little piss." She bit out, the look in her eyes entirely paralell to the feeling of her chakra fixing his thin facial bone.

"The resources we wasted, the men and women who died as a result of your little self serving mission will hardly be forgiven so easily, you should be thankful I don't kill you myself." She stated, the threat not deaf on him in the least.

Where the chakra repairing him had felt pleasurable, the look in her eyes reduced him to something he would have felt as a child.

She stood from his bedside and motioned to the overly abundant ANBU guards.

"He's fine, drag his ass to Ibiki. I want him out of my sight." She turned on her heels and exited the room.

For the first time since he awoke, his eyes met Naruto's. He was shocked to see that happiness was not present in those eyes, after brief moments, the blue eyed man turned his attention from the true and last living Uchiha and exited the room.

From the corner of Sasuke's eye, he saw Kakashi shake his head and follow after his more faithful student.

The only people left in the room were masked ANBU.

He felt the binds being removed from his person only to find that more binds had been applied in their place. With four men in front of him, four behind and two on either side, he was escorted from the hospital room.

He was still weakened from his over exertion of chakra and the prior battle with Kabuto but he walked on, following the faceless men silently, eyes downcast at the earth.

He knew this would be the result of his actions. He just didn't understand how unsettling it was to have the only people who had been unknowing constants in his life shun him like a piriah.

After a short procession through the town where he was able to see the scope of destruction Madara had created, he entered the prison system.

Without regard of his name and notorious status he was shown to a cell at the very bottom level of the compound. There was no one in this area of the compound. Only darkness and air that smelled faintly of mildew.

He sat on the small worn cot at the corner of the room and reflected, this place seemed a lot like Oto….

Disturbed by the recollection, he relinquished himself to sleep.

* * *

Review if you like, it's much appreciated!


	8. Eight by Ten

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

He sighed and attempted to roll against the offensive noise, being mindful of the sore and now swollen jaw bone which left a significant knot at the apex.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Silence was something he grew accustomed to. He wished he could have that same bit of silence now but the relentless condensation dripping from the cellar ceiling was driving him mad. It gave him something minute to foucs on, which distracted from sleep.

Ibiki didn't need to do anything, the annoying ambiance was doing enough.

He rolled onto his back, giving up the pursuit of sleep and instead stared intently into the black nothingness of the holding cell.

Ibiki would be in shortly. He knew from his time as a young man, before he was a defect and rogue that Ibiki rather enjoyed early morning interrogations. He wasn't scared in the least. If anything, the last few years had been mental torture and he gladly welcomed a different form of punishment.

This entire situation made no sense to him. He had single handedly ended Uchiha Madara. A feat that no other ninja in their lifetime could boast. He saved thousands by default. He had been slapped by a girl who had relentlessly pursued him as a child, punched by that now woman which rendered his jaw unhealed and broken. He was fairly certain a molar was missing but he couldn't be sure. It hurt to speak, not that he did much of that anyway.

He had been so completely forsaken. He couldn't feel any bitterness toward those few people that had cared so blindly for him. If anything, he couldn't say with certainty that he wouldn't have reacted in the same manner or even more severe.

It was only shocking.

Sakura had broken his jaw.

Naruto didn't say a word to him.

Kakashi shook his head, much in the same manner his father would when he erred as a child.

_This is dissapointment young Sasuke. Not your dissapointment, but the dissapointment of these three people in YOU. You've proven them all wrong. I had no idea you were so lost little boy, this will take sweat to remedy. _

Briefly , he wondered if he was losing his mind.

On many occasions since his meeting with his brother, he had heard this unrecognized female voice chide him internally. He didn't know what to make of it.

Strangely enough, he felt less alone now that he had another voice in which to share in his mind.

* * *

A strong key clicked entry into the padlock holding him prisoner inside this cell. A grinding twist released the lock and the creaking, rusted door swung open forcibly, banging offensively against the dank holding cell.

Before the actions could fully register, Sasuke was hauled from his bed by the collar of his blood stained shirt, eyes half lidden from his brief trist with sleep.

He was forced to his knees by one of the four men that entered the cramped cell. A hard, closed fist met his already wounded jaw. He saw stars almost as soon as he heard the sickening pop from his jaw, indicating that it had been removed from it's socket yet again.

If this had occurred at any other time in his life. He would have scowled and defended himself.

He did neither.

He conceded.

Everything that was playing out at this moment was something that he deserved. This repayment had been a long time coming.

He was hauled to his feet by the remnants of his tattered white shirt. Just as soon as he had regained some semblance of balance, his face met the cold and unyeilding wall of the cell. He felt a sharp tinge of pain follwed by a warm trail etching it's way across his recently maimed porcelin face. From the ache radiating from his harline, he assumed flesh split at the area.

Without further fanfare he was escorted roughly from the cell, around a corner and down what seemed to be an endless and winding hallway. The blood pooling in his eye socket from the wound on his forehead further obstructing his view.

What pride he once had was all but gone now.

He had no pride to hold anylonger.

He discrased the memory of his family, the only thing that had mattered in his confounded life. He had forsaken so many, and now that those faces had done the same to him in turn. Not even false pride could save his face at this point.

He was disgusted with himself. To be allow himself to be fooled so blindly, to act so according to another's plan, to be manipulated and used then left to bear the scars alone of his own volitiion was as a raginig storm in his heart. He had been a fool, more so than the Dobe could have ever hoped to be.

Momentarily lost in his thoughts, the guards stopped at a solid black door adorned with a red vertical streak down the length. No window or peephole in the door. A safety percausion that what happened in this room stayed in this room or left silently in a body bag.

His head met the door frame firmly before the door was swung open with some power. A hand came out of the darkness and grasped him by the front of his flimsy shirt.

With a great amount of finesse, he was swung into the room violently. The hands tied at his back offered him no means to ground himself from the impending fall, or the point in which his face met the hard edge of the metal table.

He thought he felt his eyesocket collapse but he could have been wrong. The newly garnered ache in his face was astounding.

"Get your ass to the chair." The voice of a gruff man stated, shortly thereafter a large overhead light was turned on.

He rose to his feet easily enough though the pain in his head was making evyerthing take on a dream-like hue, he didn't lead it on. He found the chair and was pleased to realize it was just a metal folding chair. He sat down quickly and attempted to take in his surroundings with his one unobstructed eye.

Before him sat a large stainless steel table, visible gashes of varying lengths and depths marred the otherwise mirrored surface, some of those gashes, a darker color from an unknown kind of filth working it's way intently into the multitude of crevices.

Across the table, on the other side sat Morino Ibiki. The man was the heart of the interrogation department. The fact that Ibiki would be dealing with Sasuke himself only hinted at the amount of ill will he had garnered over the years. Long scars trailed down the man's face. Jaw set in a tense hold that wouldn't betray a single thought that crossed the deadly man's mind.

The interrogation room itself was purely concrete from floor to 8 foot ceiling, however the floor boasted tiny white tile. Just the same as the dirty grooves upon the table, the very grout holding each individual tile together was tainted with a dark brown color. The room was lit with one solitary light which was bolted to the ceiling right above the table.

Other than those few facts, there wasn't much else of note present in the room.

The man across the table fidgeted in his pocket for a moment before pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighter. He removed one from the package and set it in his mouth, an action that had been done thousands of times before. He brought flame to the tip, inhaled and exhaled directly in Sasuke's face.

Sasuke now knew what this mans angle would be. He made no move to indicate discomfort with the situation.

Taking another leisurely drag from the carcinogen laced stick, he tilted his head back and exhaled into the air above him before directing his attention back to Sasuke.

"So how about you start from the beginning, don't leave anything out. If you do, I will know and you won't like me calling your bluff." He ground out, looking at the ceiling again.

Sasuke shifted in his seat. He really had no idea how to start. The last few years had been such a blur and laced with chaos he couldn't really determine a clear 'starting point'. He wondered if this man would give him a few moments to compose himself. If he had to start talking now, he knew with little doubt the words would make no sense to anyone but himself. You can't explain to someone what you've been through when the person you're trying to educate hasn't the foggiest idea about anything that you consider base knowledge when it really isnt in their world.

"Start talking." The man stated. Direcitng his gaze once again to the seated and restrained Uchiha.

Sasuke shut his eyes and attempted to recall every action he had taken out of consequence since he left the village gates.

He informed Ibiki of what he learned during his tutelage with Orochimaru, his murder of the same snake Sannin, the founding of his loosley termed 'team' with other lost people who just so happened to reside in Oto, his time hunting his brother. The few times he'd attempted to kill Naruto and Sakura both. His loose and unofficial tenure in Akatsuki, the infomration he gathered from Madara regarding Itachi's true role in the massacre of his clan, the meeting with Kabuto and Itachi in that white cave which would forever be a part of his memory. Kabuto's defeat. Madara's defeat and his rather unpleasant stay in the holding cell.

Sasuke left no detail out. He grew almost sick with himself as he recited all the unsavory points of his last few years to which ibiki only watched intently. Sasuke had given Ibiki no opening to interrogate, he had aired everything which had spanned the course of several hours. The concept of time lapsed when the crickets quit cherping. He honestly couldn't tell how long he had been here reciting his life's story to Morino Ibiki.

Sasuke was somewhat pleased with himself. He could tell Ibiki wanted to break his face apart himself. Most of the village had a sucker punch in or waiting for him.

He noticed Ibiki's mouth twist in a tight line, any person could see the internal conflict stemming within the man. There was something about what Sasuke admitted to him that he couldn't quite formulate a response to.

Without notice, Ibiki stood from the chair. Shocking Sasuke slightly when he realized just how tall and imposing Ibiki was.

The men made eye contact for the briefest of moments before he let himself out of the interrogation room. A soft click indicated the door was locked. From the faint shuffling outside, he could tell there were an unknown number of guards stationed outside of the room.

This interrogation wasn't pleasant for him by any means. He had to come clean with the truth. It was what his brother would have wanted.

_See…. Honesty isn't so difficult now is it. The hardest part is over. You've admitted to yourself everything you've been trying so very hard to bury. Everything that happens after this won't be nearly as bad._

The soothing, unknown voice comforted.

He would be lying if he said he dind't feel resentment for being a prisoner. Not that he expected the remnants of Konoha to sing his praises in unison for defeating not only Kabuto but Madara as well, he just had no idea how cold the village climate turned to him.

He raised his bound hands above his head and attempted to clear the blood from his left eye. Although it worked briefly, the harsh linen had tore open the slight scab that covered the gash in his head. As blood came back into his vision, he grunted his frustration.

The door opened again. He couldn't see who came in, his back was toward the door and he was not about to turn around for risk of opening the damned forehead gash again. Instead he heard three sets of footsteps.

He was either going to receive his "come-uppins" or Ibiki brought in reinforcements… _ 'More being beaten like a lapdog.'_ He thought bitterly to himself and wondered why he had even saved this place to begin with.

_That's right Sasuke. IT's always easier to get angry than reap all that you've sown._

Coming into his line of sight was the Hokage, Tsunade, Ibiki and a woman he didn't particularly recognize. She had short brown hair and looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, the only thing that stood out to him was the pig nestled safely in the woman's arms.

He was ripped from his musings when a heavy fist made contact with the solid, metal table. The owner of the hand was the Hokage, visibly unshaken by the nearly impossible exhibition of power. This woman was perhaps spades more intimidating than Morino.

Her eyes shrank to small honey colored slits. Her arm shaking. He was sure if he listened hard enough, he could hear her teeth grinding.

"What is this about Konoha ordering the extinction of your clan. I swear by the Gods boy I am not a woman to be trifled with and I'll be damned to the gates of Hell if I allow you to slander this land's name!" She exclaimed before slamming her hand down again, splitting the once solid, metal table right in two.

To say he wasn't intimidated would be an understatment. He'd never allow those words to escape another soul but if one thing the several years in the presence of murderers and insanity could teach a person is that, sometimes the musings in your brain are really the only things that hold you together during times like this.

He sat up, more fully this time in his chair and bluffed eye contact with the volitile, large chested blonde.

"I spoke no lies. I learned the truth from Madara first, then my brother when he was brought back with the Impure Resurrection. If I wanted to lie about something, I would start by saying it's good to be home." He stated cooly, trying his best not to act out of the normal. He knew fully well that his cooperation was going to be considered strange so he decided to bluff. Though he couldn't be absolutley certain this bluff in the name of good measure wouldn't cause him yet another fist to the face, by the type of killing aura this woman was exhibiting, he doubted he would have a head between his shoulders if the occasion came to that.

She narrowed her eyes at him before having a seat in the chair once occupied by Ibiki. She brought her hands up to the bridge ofher nose and made several small, massaging circles there. He could empathise with her, he really could. Her village was completely sundered, unknown numbers of casualties and now she had to sit here and deal with the ghosts of his very real past.

"How do you know they were telling the truth? How do you know this wasn't some sort of manipulation or lie or fucking unicorn goddamn FAIRYTALE!" She exploded. She stood with a quickness he'd never seen in his life, picked up one end of the now halved table and threw it mercilessly into the wall leaving behind a crumpled piece of metal and a rather sizeable hole in the wall.

After she took a minute to reign in her brief tyraide. She turned her face to him, a hint of desperation present in her eyes.

"Do you have any idea what would happen to the faith of the citizens if they found out this is true. You're a young man, and you've seen much in your short days but for the people…. Who put their trust and faith into an idea, who have no idea what we shinobi do every day for their safety… for them to find out that these things actually happen in a village once as civilised as this. Do you have any idea the repercussions the nation would face if this is ever brought to light?" She questioned. He could tell she was trying her damndest to read his face to elicit some kind of permission to go continue on with her diatribe. He wouldn't give it to her.

He knew exactly what she was getting at.

Itachi would be forever remembered as a murderous traitor and the people who handed down that order would continue drinking tea in the sickeningly lavish homes paid for by the tax payears. He wouldn't stand for that. He would demand execution as long as the world knew the truth.

The truth that the Uchiha weren't as bad as the lore lead on. Yes they were staging a coup but with the newfound allowance of time for him to reflect on it, and reflect without influence, he couldn't say he wouldn't have done the same. The truth that his brother took his last breath as a Konoha Shinobi before he was an Uchiha, before he was affiliated with Akatsuki. He took an order from his Kage. That is the truth that was due to his family. If nothing else. Just that one truth.

He narrowed his eyes, a fire kindling behind the black and looked Tsunade directly in the eye not so much as flinching.

"I think, Hokage-sama we need to rebuild this village on the precipice of truth now that Konoha is no more than a broken down palace. Give that right to my family. An ordered Genocide against my kin and making one of my kin the swordsman. You give the citizens the truth if you do nothing more in your life than that, just give my family that one thing, give them absolution that they weren't terrible people, that Itachi was a more noble man than I can ever hope to be. You give me that, and you put Itachi's name on the monument stone. That is all I want. Then you can put me to death."

The honesty of those words didn't fall on deaf ears. Perhaps the truth struck a cord with every person in that room.

He hoped they realized that he was more monster than Itachi could have ever dreamed. A monster can still hold an undying love for his family and wish for the transgressions against them to be righted.

"Take him to his cell. Be sure to send a medic in for his face." Tsunade directed before excusing herself and Shizune from the room.

Ibiki walked to him cautiously before he helped him out of the chair firmly. He stood behind Sasuke with his hand in the middle of his back as he walked him slowly down the curving, dark hallway.

The door to his cell was just as open as it had been left when he was ejected from it. He stepped inside without resisting and met eyes with Ibiki one last time before the older man turned to leave.

"I'll have some real food brought in shortly."

That statement meant so many things to the lone man in the cell.

* * *

I think this was the longest chapter I've ever written. If my pace is slow, I apologize I'm not one to rush. Nor am I one to out my trump cards prematurley.

Anyway, I thank you again for reading and please do review, let me know what you think.


	9. Clarity The Unwelcome Guest

Several days had passed since Sasuke had issued his request to Tsunade. If there has been one thing Uchiha Sasuke learned in the last few months, it would be clarity. To be able to think on his unhindered own.

Such a folly he learned the truth only on the tip of a blade.

A folly still he felt so unwaveringly dedicated to his family. While true, his brother did end their clan he didn't of his own volition, even above family, Itachi had loved his village.

A marionette still takes a moment to learn to walk once freed from strings.

The rain must've stopped a few hours ago as the ambient dripping sounds had ceased, leaving Sasuke laying on the bare cot staring at the ceiling in complete silence.

He firmly believes he grows stronger with every minute he spends in silence. He hasn't had a voice whispering in his ear or his mind since his entry into this cell, and it was rather comforting to be able to distinguish your thoughts from those ideas planted and cultivated by others.

He laughed to himself when he compared his mind to a garden simply because of how many people attempted to grow ideas there. A brief mental image of Orochimaru clad in modest farmer attire made him audibly laugh.

He forgot he knew how to do that.

As quick as the laugh onset, it was gone. Replaced again with the oddly welcoming silence.

His thoughts wandered again, taking him on a journey from Orochimaru farming straight to his child hood home bathed in blood. If he hadn't been alone, he would have hid the flex in his jawbone at the recollection that has haunted him for nearly a decade.

A familiar feeling took hold of him as the film of memory played out behind his eyelids. That feeling, was unadulterated anger. All over again, the same anger he'd felt since that night but over time had evolved into malice. That hint of malice, took him to all the unsavory memories created by that feeling alone.

He had tried to kill his best friend.

He had tried to kill his team mate.

He bargained his very self for a slice of power he didn't already have.

He killed his brother.

He aided Madara in his desire to simply know, to not be lead or conditioned but to know irrefutably the great flaw that was his family and the truth of his brother, who'd martyred himself to spare Sasuke.

Those few facts, weighed greater on him than anyone would know. Decisions he'd made in rash anger standing in the middle of his mind like they were etched onto the side of a great mountain.

He realized then, these were things to never forget.

Never forget the Hell he'd ushered into his life. He would never forgive himself for that and countless other decisions and events.

He is sitting in an ANBU cell, within the village he once called his home and for the first time in his life, he doesn't try to blame anyone but himself.

Clarity. The realization that your life is exactly how you make it.

The image of Orochimaru farming in his mind returns, but it's only changed. Orochimaru is now sitting far away from the garden holding something above him that catches the light in such a way it shines golden, and Sasuke realizes that he's been the one tending the garden for all those people the entire time.

The realization saddens him and he tries to find something, anything to take his mind off the track it's traveling but finds nothing. Nothing in this cell but silence.

The downside of clarity. You can't escape yourself.

* * *

AN: Brief I know but I needed to get back in the flow of things. I know, I know, it's slow but honestly it's nice to write something that doesn't feel rushed J Thank you for your patience and personal note: 3 weeks a non-smoker! Yay me. If you don't smoke now, don't ever start.


	10. The Fruits of Gambling

Days bled to nights, and nights to days. He couldn't even keep track anymore. He could only guess at how long he'd been hidden safely below the ground in the dank cellar.

A small part of him felt something while lying on the dilapidated cot.

He felt remorse.

Stowed beneath the ground in a cage with no one to remind him of all those things he'd tried unsuccessfully to forget.

_You mean compassion? Companionship? Friendship? Love? Feeling like you belong… _The vaguely familiar yet still unidentified voice quipped within the realm of his conscious mind.

He shut his eyes and tried to will some kind of noise to radiate between his ears to spare him from the conversation.

_You try to ignore it. _

_You run and run and run but tell me young man, where has all that running gotten you?_

"Nowhere, it's gotten me absolutely nowhere." His voice cut through the silence of the prison.

A throat cleared.

He had missed someone coming up to his cell. He had given up on scanning for chakra after what he assumed to be the first week; no one was coming to see him.

From his position on the bed he rolled over to his side, just enough for him to make out a figure of who had come to him. (He wouldn't call it a visitor, whom ever came to his door, and normally the only visitor was Ibiki, for business)

He thanked the lack of lighting for hiding the shocked expression on his face when his eyes met someone he had called friend in what seemed like another life.

The new addition to the dark scenery boasted everything the darkness wasn't. A supreme juxtaposition.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, undeniably loud voice. He was the opposite of him in so many ways.

_Maybe that's why you sneer when you see young Naruto… he's everything you forbade yourself from becoming. See where he is?_

He sat up on the cot and really studied the figure, he had heard of people hallucinating while in solitary confinement for extended periods of time.

"Sasuke." A surprisingly lower, more serious voice came from the man.

Sasuke stood up and walked to the wrought iron bars.

"… after so long you'd think I'd have something to say to you ne?" Naruto stated, shifting uncomfortably on his feet, a nervous grin twitching at his face.

Sasuke only stared. For no reason other than it's been the only change in scenery he's had since…. Like he said earlier, time was lost on him.

"You look like hell Teme." Naruto said this with a sadness present in his voice Sasuke had never heard. "I know I'm the last person you want to see, but I wanted to say thank you. Thank you Sasuke, for eliminating Madara. That's all I wanted to say to you. Thank you… For all you've done." Naruto stated. His eyes sincere and unwavering from the sharingan wielder's gaze. The men had fought near death and Naruto still held that gaze without an ounce of fear. There was no murderous intent exchanged on either part, just a silent understanding that the ghosts of the past are necessary to remain just that… Ghosts.

He felt his face contort into an expression he knew nothing of. It didn't feel familiar but apparently it translated to the blonde, exactly what he felt.

"You're supposed to say 'you're welcome' Teme…" a jovial tone, Naruto's voice jarring Sasuke from his internal assessments.

He felt an imperial smirk threaten his mouth.

A tan hand fit between the cold steel bars. That hand was met with a firm shake by a pale one.

"Hn."

"Some things never change. " With a shrug of the blonde's shoulders, and a smile on his face, he turned on his heels and disappears down the hallway, the ANBU escort meeting him half way.

_We all play a part. Every person we meet leaves an imprint and that imprint changes us at base…. This change can be large or small, noticeable or not, good or bad. Now tell me Sasuke… the imprint that man left on you, what is it?_

He snickered and shook his head, turning away from the cold steel.

* * *

Soft and quick footfalls foretold yet another visitor. He hadn't realized it would be such a social day.

He thought it strange, it hadn't been that long since Naruto left and these footfalls were much swifter than Ibiki's.

He saw light quickly traveling up the hallway, nearing ever closer to his cell door.

In a matter of seconds, Tsunade as well as her accompaniment of four ANBU guards stood before his cell. With no words, a guard approached the door and unlocked it before stepping to the side, allowing the deceivingly older woman to enter.

She stepped in unceremoniously.

He refrained from asking what brought her here, opting to hold his tongue.

"I've had some time to consider your request." She stated regally before leaning against the cold stone wall, crossing her arms and shutting her eyes.

Sasuke unconsciously sat up a little straighter.

"Upon much research and many interviews I can safely say that I believe what you claim. I take your claim as truth." She said, opening her eyes to make contact with the man on the bed.

Sasuke chose to say nothing still.

"While your actions are still very questionable, I cannot say with certainty that I would not have followed your path young man. The fact you've resigned yourself to this cell willingly and offered your head for the country to know this truth now resurfaced from under a large rug speaks volumes of your commitment to your family."

She moved to his bedside and knelt down to be eye level to him.

"Just tell me, in all truth under Kami's word that all you've done up to this point in your life has been for nothing but to right the wrongs of your family." Her face pleaded but her voice remained calm.

"All I have ever done has been for my family." He said, commanding the Hokage take his gaze and read it deeply. If there was one thing Sasuke Uchiha was not doing at this moment, it was lying.

She closed her eyes and exhaled.

"Then on behalf of my humble country. I extend my condolences to your fallen kin, and my most humble apologies for the wrongs done to them by my priors." She took his hand into hers, momentarily shocking him with the sudden contact. "While I cannot bring them back, and unwrite the sins of the past, I can do what I am able to set this right. Uchiha Sasuke, I will grant you your request. Your brother will be added to the new monument since the prior was destroyed and I am personally drafting the acknowledgement of conspiracy of our Council against the Uchiha clan as we speak. During the siege, the entirety of the council perished. Unfortunatley they have escaped judgment in this life, I cannot be so sure about the next. I wish I could offer you their heads but that is no longer in our realm." She said, tension running the length of her jaw.

Sasuke took in the woman impassively.

"In the next few days, I will release you of this prison by formal order. At that time your chakra will be significantly restricted for an indefinite amount of time as a condition of your probation. You will also be required to assist the village in what ever capacity you are able with the rebuilding efforts. As you've seen, this village is leveled and there are many without homes or food. In your own, wise words young man, we should rebuild this nation on truths rather than deceits. "She raised full height and turned on her heels, already striding toward the door.

Once her back was turned, she allowed a smile to grace her deceivingly young face and he released a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

* * *

His restlessness was astounding.

He hadn't realized how much he actually wanted to leave the cramped room until he got word that he would be released. His legs were aching as were his arms, perhaps laying in melancholy on a less than comfortable cot for lord knows how long made his muscles atrophy. That thought was enough to terrify him.

He raised himself onto his feet and looked at the cot loathingly before pushing himself to the ground and committing himself to an unspecified number of frantic pushups.

The feeling of blood pumping through his veins and muscular system was a welcome familiarity.

He was slightly irritated he hadn't thought of this sooner. It surely could have passed time in a more effective manner than losing himself in his thoughts on his lazy ass, then having audible conversations with himself.

Even though it certainly wasn't normal behaviour for him to just lay there and think, a part of him found it somewhat enjoyable.

He is, and always has been a man of action. For the first time in his life, he appreciated the lack of it.

With the promise of at least an end to his imprisonment, he pursued his exercise more vigorously all the while thinking about what he was going to do once that day came. He never thought that far, he figured attempting to kill both Naruto and Sakura that would be enough to sign his execution order. Not to mention the loss of life directly resulting from his defection to Sound.

The familiar knot of guilt pitted itself within him again, making him stop his ministrations completely before sitting in the floor.

He really didn't understand the scope of damage he'd dealt.

_Now you see what everyone was trying to save you from. Not a pretty sight is it? People died to bring you home, when you left that place and those bonds to take more life because the entirety of your clan lost theirs…. This Sasuke, is the madness they were only trying to save you from. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind._

He stilled in his thoughts.

_Atonement won't be enough Sasuke… they didn't execute you because it would only continue the cycle. The only thing to right this, is to break that cycle and that my dear, will be the hardest thing you will ever do in your life._

* * *

"Five days?" He asked incredulously, his eyes narrowed in doubt.

"Yes. You were only here five days Uchiha. Felt much longer though." Ibiki answered with an even tone, ushering Sasuke out of the cell.

He stepped cautiously out of the visible boundary of the room, surveying from right to left simply because old habits die hard.

"After you. Security protocol." The elder man stated, again motioning Sasuke to stand in front of him.

He took the position in front of Ibiki, as much as he hated leaving his back vulnerable. After years of dealings with some of the most deadly shinobi of their generation, he felt he couldn't be blamed for the caution.

He almost forgot what it felt like to take full, uninterrupted strides.

Soon they came across an intersection. From the hallway they currently occupied, they could go left or right.

"Which way?" Sasuke queried. Even in his younger years he hadn't been in the depth of the interrogation unit until his imprisonment.

The older man gestured to the right. "We see the Hokage. Still have to take care of the probationary sealing."

Their feet carried them again. He nearly forgot that he'd have an unknown amount of his chakra sealed away until they terminated his probation. He rolled his eyes.

_That's not what you need to be doing right now you know…_

He cast his eyes down and looked at the cracking mortar between the bricks under his feet.

_You aren't five anymore Sasuke. Everything is a matter of perception. Always remember that. Life is what you make it. You made it what it is now; you can make it what you want from this day on._

He hesitated before directing his eyes level again.

The men continued in silence until Sasuke grunted and turned his very sensitive eyes away from the light beaming through the small window in the metal door at the end of the corridor, still a good twenty feet away.

Ibiki laughed. 'Yeah, I get like that too after a shift here." The man stopped Sasuke with a firm hand on his shoulder. "This is where we wait. ANBU should be here anytime." Sasuke nodded before Ibiki continued "because you're not technically on probation until your probation conditions are met, they are going to have to restrain you, so… kid, don't let that bother you."

Two swift knocks landed on the metal in quick succession.

"This is where we part Uchiha. I hope I never see you here again." Ibiki said before turning his back and putting his hands in his green combat pants.

"Moreno-san." Sasuke hadn't realized the name left his mouth.

Ibiki turned partially with an eyebrow arched, "Yes?"

"Thank you." The young man stated, eyes meeting his before nodding his head in a slight bow.

With a laugh Ibiki turned around and put his hand up in a fare-well. "Thank me by not coming back will you?"

If you didn't know Uchiha Sasuke, you wouldn't have realized he had a smile on his face as the ANBU guards attached their restraints to his arms and legs.

* * *

AN: Alright... Call Sasuke OOC if you like. It's reasonable to me. Sakura will be in the next chapter. Promise. In fact i'm working on it now. Oh this should be interesting! How does a person like Sasuke who is already a social moron re-integrate into a society he deserted! This should be fun!

I would like to address something, at this point in the manga it's really a toss up on if Sasuke is going to rage against Konoha or not. If you really think about it. Everything Sasuke has done, has pretty much been to avenge his family. With the light on the fact that Itachi was given an order to wipe out his clan, yes it is reasonable that Sasuke would go all "Doctor Destro" on it. However, his allegiance has ALWAYS been to his family. I think he would want to do as Itachi wished because Itachi pretty much died twice a shinobi of Konoha because he loved it. Long shot yes. Should he be pissed and Nuke it? Sure. Fact of the matter is, it's my story. I want Sasuke to eat some humble pie, and actually face consequences. So the council is dead and he is back in the place where he is reminded every minute of all the people he left behind. Everything is settled and it's about the rebuilding more than anything. Metaphorically speaking :)

Anyway, I appreciate all the favorites and reviews... If there are errors in this, i'm sorry. I work nights and it's WAY past time I go to sleep :) Forgive me?


	11. Uncomfortable

One day.

It had been one day, almost to the minute that he had been freed from his cell. About twenty-two hours since he had his chakra sealed, he assumed they sealed about seventy-five percent of it. Enough to let him keep training… or so he thought.

The few hours that followed his chakra sealing faded into what felt like minutes. He was ushered here and there, given this and that to give to someone else at which point they give him something different to give to someone else.

Reminded him too much of those D-ranked missions he did with Naruto and Sakura.

"You alright kid?" The older man acting as his escort queried.

He shook his head. "Yeah, everything is fine" Sasuke stated clearly before shaking his head, trying to physically alter his prior train of thought.

The escort stopped in the street in what used to be the market area. Sasuke could remember the smells that would waft all the way to the back yard of his youth home. The area was nearly leveled now, a shell of it's former glory. The only reminders that this area they stood in the midst of was once bustling with commerce was the presence of heavy stone walls with advertisements leaning precariously against each other much like dominos.

"This is where your probation begins Sasuke. Salvage what you can, and put it over there in the clearing." The escort pointed to a large clearing that he recognized as a play area for the younger children. Now, it was littered with whatever could be salvaged from the wreckage.

After the escort left him, standing with no direction in the middle of a decimated street, Sasuke started to evaluate his surroundings. All around him civilian and shinobi alike were working in unison at what was once the super market, all working together to clear the debris and get it to the clearing.

Among the crowd he saw the familiar traits of one of his eldest teammates. His jaw twitched from the muscle memory and his stomach sank like a coward.

There was Sakura.

_You know young man, I'd have hit you too if you put me through all the hell you put that girl through. You should be lucky she didn't break that pretty face…_

There was Sakura, her long hair tied tightly into a high ponytail, seemingly covered in dirt giving diction to the group.

_Face the music young man. The Hokage is a very wise woman, I think it not coincidence you're commanded to this area first._

Before it registered, he was moving.

Before he knew it, they locked eyes.

She made a gesture, beckoning him to join the group as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

He didn't know for certain if she was gesturing to him or not. He always liked to process things before acting and he knew for certain the last time they met, his face ached terribly for days.

He didn't realize he was looking all around him, trying to confirm or deny her motion for him to join.

He heard a laugh.

"Sasuke get over here." She said with out fanfare, lacking the affection her voice once held for him and he found it quite unsettling. His feet shuffled under him and drew him to the group of no more than fifteen people including himself.

He didn't know why but he felt like he desperately needed to apologize. He opened his mouth to speak before he was cut off.

"There will be time to catch up later. For now, I need your help moving the larger sections of wall to the clearing." She stated, in what he wanted to think was a friendly tone. He nodded his head in agreement before trying to decide the most effective course of action. There seemed to be large sections of walls everywhere.

"So this is why they let me keep a quarter of my chakra." He stated aloud to no one but himself. He heard a once familiar, suppressed chuckle.

With a tiny twinge of aggravation he looked at his former teammate, snickering uncontrollably with dirt and sweat covering her face.

"Welcome to Tsunade's way of doing things Sasuke." She stated before motioning to him yet again, only this time to alert him to follow her. To his surprise, he did without any hesitation.

They walked a few yards to a low wall resting precariously on top of a mailbox.

"I'll get the brunt of the weight. I just need you to keep it balanced. Got it?" She looked at him and he nodded.

He noticed her put on some well-worn black gloves and crack her knuckles before once more wiping the sweat from her forehead. He'd seen this woman put craters into the ground and full grown men though brick walls, he didn't doubt she could move this without his help.

His escort did say he had to help any one after all.

She positioned herself underneath the wall which he assumed to be leaning at a fifty degree angle. He watched her intently, less concerned with her body and more concerned with what he should do if the wall fell on her.

_You know that wall is the least of your worries right?_

He declined himself an answer and watched her lift a ten by ten foot section of the wall onto her back with an effortless bend of her knees.

"Sasuke. If it looks like its going to fall get my attention and I'll readjust." She said, the weight of stone on her back did nothing to the inflexion of her voice.

He said "Alright" because he didn't exactly know what else to say.

He followed her as she requested, he didn't see her struggle once. Not that he could say he expected her to struggle with something like a brick wall.

Something about her carrying all of that weight on her comparatively tiny back made him feel something he could only describe as awful.

This girl. This was the girl he had ridiculed and called weak. The girl who loved him and crushed it. The girl who set out god knows how many times to drag him back to this place and failed all while he goaded her on for not changing. This was the girl who hit him, twice.

_She was never the weak one was she…. _

As he watched her get further, and further away, nearly reaching the clearing by this point ; he realized this was not the first significant weight the smaller girl carried on her back with no complaints.

He sped casually to catch up with her before ducking under the right side of the wall, allowing a good three feet of space between them.

Her face turned to him, green eyes laced with the question they both knew she wouldn't ask.

She stopped and he adjusted himself under the slab of brick before hefting the side he occupied onto his back.

"Lighten your load?" He asked, attention focused on some non-descript point directly in front of him.

He heard her laugh, a sincere one. The kind of laugh that starts in the pit of your stomach and bubbles up and out resulting in a fine tremble traveling through the wall to much of his discomfort.

She directed her attention to the front again and smiled.

"Yeah."

_You only helped for a few minutes but that's a start…._

* * *

Sasuke was learning that breaking a sweat from training is completely different than breaking a sweat from manual labor.

After a few hours of the lifting, transporting, and setting down of what seemed to him was the entire fucking supermarket he knew he was going to ache later.

He was hot and miserable. He'd already lost his shirt in the first two hours, joining many of the shirtless men that were doing the same task he was charged with.

He sat leaning against a tree trunk, enjoying the brief reprieve Sakura granted him from the efforts and the slightest bit of shade.

He shut his eyes and wondered to himself if he knew that helping her with that one wall would banish him to 'Brick" duty the entirety of his probation. Inwardly he groaned.

A cold, something on his chest startled him out of his inner musings. His mood immediately soured, it reminded him of jumping into a cool lake during the first days of summer, and he hated that. He quickly jumped to his feet and focused on the sweating water bottle resting near them.

"I thought you'd catch it…." Sakura stated.

He wasn't the most socially proficient person on the planet but he knew that she was probably fighting shock and laughter. The latter made him scowl.

He bent over and took the cold water bottle into his hands before sitting under the tree once more. Sakura sat a companionable distance away.

"tired yet?" She asked. It was now that he could hear the exhaustion creep into her voice just slightly.

"yeah" he answered before they lulled into the quiet silence that always seemed to fall between them.

* * *

The rest of the day, and into the evening they worked together in companionable silence. A quick exchange of direction or suggestion was the only thing they discussed.

He noticed the sky take on the reddish purple tint of dusk. Surveying around him, he noticed the group of once fifteen had now dwindled to five, including himself.

As he leaned over to pick up a bench, he felt a slight tap on his bare shoulder. He turned around and met Sakura's gaze.

"You can go home now. Thanks for all of your help today." She said. The way she smiled made him notice that through the day, the dirt had only accumulated. He laughed a bit as he focused on a particularly strong streak of what he could only liken to mud which had found itself bridging the gap between her eyebrows, giving her a pink speckled, brown uni-brow.

He noticed her eyes narrow marginally before he assumed the defensive.

"There is dirt on your face." He stated, trying his best to bluff aloofness.

Her uni-brow twitched slightly causing a snicker to crack his façade of indifference.

She rubbed her face with the flesh of her arm which only served in smearing the mud further.

"You've got mud on your face too Sasuke. Get some rest and shower, I'll see you here in the morning." She matched his snicker as she turned and walked off.

* * *

_AN: Thank you to _everyone who reviewed, favorited and alerted this work. It really, really makes me smile :) This is shorter than what i've normally been putting out, but I plan to work on the next chapter tomorrow. Thank you again! And I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.

_Shorter than usual but I was antsy to just get it up. _


	12. Volumes Never Known

For days that felt like weeks, he worked on in earnest . For once, he worked in unison with others, which was a difficult adjustment after years of being removed from the warmth of a community.

As the heat beat down on his back and sweat rolled down his brow he was filled with an unexplained contentment.

_Nice having your hands build something. That's what we humans do after all, we build. You used to be the sort that would look down on this… using your hands for something other than tools, other than vengeance and hate and proving your worth. The young man of a year ago would have snickered and looked down on all of these people, each working with every fiber of their being to breathe life into their home land. This is a community Sasuke, and with every bead of sweat and every splinter in your skilled fingers you are earning your keep._

Over the last few days he started thinking that every one of his many transgressions were nothing more than day dreams. It was hard for him to see how he'd once lived through the eyes of hindsight, especially in the pleasant distraction and simplicity he had now. He took life and relished in the pain of others; he wished all those memories weren't his memories at all.

For the first time in his life, things were easy.

He slept in the humble bed of the small studio apartment he was sequestered to during his probation after a long and exhausting day of rebuilding efforts. He ate his breakfast at the kitchen counter. Every morning , just before dawn, he met Sakura near the hospital and she would tell him where they were to go and what needed to be done. He made no decisions in his life at this point aside from when he showered and ate breakfast.

With every nail he drove into wood, he felt lighter.

Every time he noticed his eyes lingering just a bit too long on long strands of cherry-hued hair, he felt younger and he didn't try to hide it now.

He hadn't noticed the smile grace his features, but she noticed. He could tell by the way her eyes seemed to linger just a fraction of a second longer than acceptable paired with the tiny fluxion of her eyebrow, her left one.

_Now, now…. I could say that she noticed your little smile…. Or I could say that you noticed her and she noticed you._

He drove the last nail into the door frame of the building which would be Ichiraku Ramen, version two before he sat down his hammer and retrieved two bottles of water from the nearby cooler.

She was just a few feet away from him, placing panes of glass delicately into their respective recesses. He waited patiently for her to finish placing the glass before he offered her water. He'd made a mental note that since they've worked together she's offered him close to twenty bottles of water, and he had offered her none. For some reason, it bothered him. He really couldn't tell you why though.

His ears perked at the sound of a victory sigh, he directed his eyes to the window to confirm placement.

"Sakura. Water?" He queried in his usual cool baritone, holding each perspiring bottle of water in each hand while standing in his 'least interested' best. Old habits were hard to be broken after all.

Her gaze met his and she smiled before clapping her hands together twice and putting them side by side in a customary 'toss it to me' gesture. With all the grace expected of Sasuke Uchiha, the bottle made an effortless journey the ten feet to her waiting hands.

She smiled just a little larger before tilting the bottle at him and unscrewing the lid. "Thanks." she said, and he nodded at her in acknowledgement.

The day marched on, at when the day was at it's hottest he realized that he and Sakura had hung every door, window, awning and panel of siding that was now a part of the new ramen stand.

They stood a companionable distance away from each other and surveyed the fruits of their hard work. He watched her look from the top of the tiny building to the pebbles at the bottom, her face filled with a humble joy and sense of awe. He wondered if he could ever look like that, or even be capable of feeling a fraction of what he assumed his present company was feeling.

He knew this wasn't the Ichiraku of his childhood, but now it was the Ichiraku of his adult-hood. He allowed himself to remember how he felt sitting at those stalls, aged twelve years. He had not a bad memory at the establishment.

"Have you seen Naruto?" He asked, the evenness of his voice felt a little more practiced than normal.

She took in his features, he was sure she was trying to gauge his sincerity before opening what conversation they did have up to Naruto. "Yeah, he's been helping the group rebuild the Village Hall" She answered, but hesitated near the end, he already knew what she was going to ask. "Why?"

"I was going to see if he wanted to come here when we are done rebuilding this place."

She smiled and nodded her head. For a moment he thought he saw her lose herself somewhere in her thoughts before she came back. She did this from time to time he had noticed. Sadness would flash across her face just as fast as lightning before it dissipated and she was in the present once more.

He saw her eyes darken. The breath she took; just a little too deep and the tension in her shoulders wind just a bit tighter. She was going to ask about the yesterdays. The countless yesterdays when he was so desperately lost. The yesterdays he spared no thought to anything but himself.

His stomach began knotting and he swallowed the air of guilt that was trying to escape. He felt the temperature of his body spike unnaturally and it wasn't due to the sun.

Inwardly, he begged her not to ask. He wasn't ready to come back to reality. He wasn't ready to pretend that his past was actually someone else's.

She began with anxiety riddling her voice, effectively wiping out any trace of the companionable Sakura he'd worked with. "Did you intend to kill me… to kill Naruto that day in the Land of Iron?" As soon as the question left her lips, her eyes commanded his attention. He couldn't look away and he couldn't run from this. He was sure he was stuck in some kind of horrible genjutsu. He never felt more powerless in his entire existence.

Silence had his tongue with a death grip.

_You don't have the luxury of not answering. Heed your own words young man, foundations need to be built on truth…_

"I did." was all he could say. He felt his face pale and willed his eyes to avert to the ground. He would never be able to look at her after this.

A chortle left her mouth preceding a long sigh.

"I intended to kill you myself that day, but I couldn't do it." she said, an edge in her voice that indicated this was a particularly difficult memory for her to relive. "Do you know why I didn't do it Sasuke?" she continued, her voice taking on a willowy melancholy.

He shook his head. Eyes still fixed on the dirt like the worms of the Earth could save him from this.

"I couldn't kill you because I never saw you as a monster- I saw you as a hurt little boy, but to me, you were always the Sasuke I trailed in the academy. The Sasuke who pushed Naruto and I to improve. The Sasuke who saved me in the Forest of Death and the Sasuke I held in that same place. That's why." the sincerity of her voice sent a chill through his spine. "I knew that Sasuke was still in there somewhere. You were that person then and you could be that person again. That man in the clearing looked like you yes, but it wasn't." she concluded.

He couldn't comprehend what she just told him. His mind wouldn't allow it. He cautiously looked up from the dirt his gaze had been fixed upon and saw tears run down her cheeks from her closed eyes.

"Don't cry for me anymore." he stated softly, ashamed of himself for the atrocities he put this woman and a man he once called friend through.

That statement was enough to still her tears and shock her system.

"Too many tears in our lifetime." He continued softly, seeing her cry reminded him of the tears he himself had shed as a child.

She answered him with a sad smile and a nod of her head.

_This is wisdom Sasuke. I really didn't think you had it in you…._

* * *

__Please don't hate me for the short length! I just couldn't make this chapter any longer than it is. :( I was having a hard time letting the Sasuke/Sakura elephant out of the room, but I must say, the song the Noose by A Perfect Circle certainly helped that. A lot.

I would also like to squee in appreciation of the growing number of people who are reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story.  
For the record, nine times out of ten when I post these updates, I have been up for over a day (working overnight sucks...) so I'm bound to screw up somewhere, just let me know so I can be embarrassed, fix it, and not make the same mistake. Thank you again. So much for reading!


	13. Peace Offerings

So here I sit in bed, with the flu on the first day of my vacation with nothing to occupy my time but writing and an occasional bout of Xbox. I want to really, really thank everyone who has taken the time to review and to those who haven't who read this story. It seriously makes me feel better than NyQuil right now.

* * *

Evening, when everyone in the shanty apartment complex was undoubtedly asleep was easily the worst part of the day for him. The silence reminded him so much of the years he's spent with only it for company.

The conversation with Sakura had him unnerved; with the blinders off, there was no feigning anything. No comfortable lies, pretending that he never really left, lies that he never hurt anyone and the last several years of his life never happened. Everything was out in the open; that openness made him feel vulnerable.

It made him feel like he was four years old again. Specifically when he'd broken his mother's cherished vase which had been in her family, (not the Uchiha) for generations. He remembered standing there with shards of white practically surrounding him and a few had lodged themselves oppressively in the tops of his tiny feet staining only a slight, visible amount of the porcelain scarlet. He couldn't lie and tell her that it was someone else, he was caught red handed and the only thing he could do was stare at the ground and say nothing but allow the tears to stain his pale cheeks.

He remembered his mother crying quietly to herself while she removed the glass from his tiny feet, followed by a deft kiss to his forehead and a quick exit to gather the dustpan and broom.

Yes, he certainly felt like he was four years old again.

He took a seat on the lonely floor cushion which resided by the only window in the small space. He rather enjoyed looking over the city under the guise of darkness. He could think then. There was nothing to distract him but far reaching thoughts of any kind of parallel universes that lay beyond the brilliantly lit night sky. Electricity was only functioning as normal in a few areas, he found the lack of outdoor lighting only showcased the sky more significantly. Perfect conditions for self-reflection.

He wondered out loud who would be at his door at this hour of the night when he was roused from his musings by short raps in quick succession.

The person on the other side of the entry was both a welcome and unwelcome sight. Naruto was his complete opposite in every way. Everything about him was bright when he was dark; he was loud and boisterous when he himself was next to silent; everyone loved him and he was looked upon with extreme caution. Naruto had trust and admiration; he only had doubt and would undoubtedly become a warning for the other generations yet to come, perhaps even an urban legend in the making.

He always knew things with Naruto would evolve the way they did. You put two people so incredibly opposite in close quarters for so long only good or bad will be the result. The latter was the fact in their case. It seemed far too methodical for it only to come down to differences of self, a part of him thought the entire mess which was his life had been fated.

Numerous times they've attempted to kill each other and they've both failed because they were so very equal, so very matched and unmistakably mismatched. Something he'd failed to see, even with Sharingan. Naruto had accomplished things in his life that he would have never been capable of doing, fulfilling dreams that would have never crossed his admittedly selfish mind.

Naruto looked more somber than usual, but that had become the norm between the men. There was still an air of distrust and Sasuke couldn't blame him for that. Since his release, there had been a mutual exercise of avoidance between the men.

Naruto lifted two take out crates of what Sasuke could only assume to be filled with ramen to his eye level. Ichiraku was the only functioning restaurant in the village at the moment. The fact Naruto came to his apartment in the first place was surprising, bringing a peace offering of sorts? Now that was very surprising. The offering being Ichiraku ramen, now that wasn't surprising at all.

_Small comforts can be found in the things that don't change you know…._

"Hungry?" Naruto queried. A confidence in his voice that had fallen on his deaf ears for quite some time. He stepped aside and ushered the blonde into his 'home'. Naruto walked the five feet from the door to the kitchen counter and sat the white containers down before turning around.

"Haven't seen you around the village much ya know? Sakura has kind of been hogging you." He stated before the all too obnoxious grin overtook his tanned face. He knew the laugh would follow shortly, and he was right. He'd claimed to never know anyone, but he knew Naruto no matter how much he wished he hadn't at one point or another.

He replied in his normal fashion to the uncomfortable small talk that spanned five minutes in his contemplative 'Yes', 'No', 'Hn' and 'Aa' fashion. He allowed Naruto to lead the conversation because through his entire life, he'd always had difficulty starting conversation without feeling awkward.

After the exchange of mandatory pleasantries, Sasuke himself moved to the far side of the kitchen space to retrieve chop sticks from his cutlery drawer at Naruto's request.

He didn't really think there was a difference in kinds of silence. For so long, silence was just silence, but he'd learned differently now. The silence between himself and Sakura was tense, like there was some kind of underlying maelstrom threatening to rear it's head ever so often, silence they both knew wouldn't last forever; the silence between he and Naruto was an entirely different breed, a kind you can't predict which is why he allowed the blonde man to speak about their classmates and the progress he's made on city hall. Hearing something from him, was better than nothing at all.

Handing Naruto the chopsticks, they ate quickly, similarly hunched over the scratched counter tops.

The ramen was a welcome surprise. He normally ate rice and vegetables twice a day and some variant of available meat in the evening when he returned from the rebuild. The change in flavor did wonders to his palate even if he swore he would never eat ramen again after being on a genin squad with the blonde haired idiot.

"So. This is where I get to say, "I told you so", you know that right" Naruto said with the equivalent of a shit-eating grin spreading across his face like a forest-fire.

He felt himself glower before he began piling the ramen into his mouth, with just a degree more enthusiasm. His way of biding time.

With all the composure and cool he was known for since he was just a little boy, Sasuke sat the chopsticks across the container and turned to his guest before shutting his eyes, a slight shift in posture and Sasuke was the epitome of arrogance once again.

"No you can't." was all he felt he needed to say in his practiced, elitist monotone.

The blonde knotted his eyebrows and squinted his eyes. "Yes I can." he nearly bit out. And just like that, Sasuke was assured that he in fact, still knew how to push Naruto's buttons. After all the years and blood, in this moment felt like they were genin again.

Sasuke opened his eyes. "No. You. Can't" He articulated. The articulation killed Naruto just as Naruto's lack of common sense killed him.

With all the fanfare expected of Uzumaki Naruto… "I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO YOU BASTARD" Just about three decibels below what one would consider screaming…

He let out a laugh that came out like a scoff. "You said 'I will drag you back to this village myself.' which you didn't do…. And you also said that we would kill each other and die together. Neither of those things happened did they?" Sasuke stated so matter of factly he could swear he saw steam coming from Naruto's ears.

And thus came the silence… and the gears shifting in the blue eyed man's psyche… and the minute crack of knuckles…

Just as he thought. People change indeed, but Naruto wasn't just a person.

He raised his hand and patted the now visibly livid blonde on the shoulder. Though he knew his smiles were still rare, his smirks were not.

Contrary to himself, his present company was his every juxtaposition. Naruto's grin, which had been such a nuisance to him as a child reappeared in earnest. The one that was far too large to be comfortable and his protruding cheeks blocking any eyesight.

"You still look just as ridiculous as you did when you were twelve you know…" Sasuke trailed off.

Naruto laughed, that deep and rumbling laugh of joy before he finally replied. "Well, some things just don't change do they?"

* * *

Before his reintegration into Konoha, he had never questioned himself. He knew his decisions may as well have been law. He was always right.

However, in the throngs of people he grew up with, he found himself doing quite a bit of questioning, and wondering, and pondering. Doing things that no one could really tell he was doing.

He was starting to wonder what people thought when they had to work next to him.

He wondered if those younger than him knew of his illustrious past.

All of the wondering, and the guessing made him want to drop off the map. Anything to not have to entertain the little voice of doubt ringing just enough in his head to make him uneasy.

He did have a way to deal with this unease. He did what he always did.

He immersed himself in work, Lost himself in the physical labor of the rebuild.

To much of his own surprise, the market area had been rebuilt in less than a month, three weeks if he had to guess. Word from the others on his 'squad of workers' informed him that approximately seventy five percent of the village had been refurbished.

According to those sources, the people enlisted to help rebuild worked with much more dedication and zeal than expected, much to the Hokage's pleasure he was sure.

The only points which needed to be rebuilt were the few fresh produce farms and the homes of the tenders. Sakura notified him the day before his scheduled day off of their relocation to the outskirts of the village to rebuild a few simple, single family homes and some fence. He was partially excited to get away from the village proper, simply because he couldn't stand the smell of paint and the paint crews always seemed to follow him upwind where he couldn't avoid it.

He met her at the entrance of the outer road, only today she was accompanied by Naruto, who smiled that ridiculously annoying smile that threatened to darken his mood but he just couldn't find it in himself to glower. Behind his two former team mates, and the only people he would even loosely acknowledge as friends lay what looked like miles of pasture and in the far, far distance the thick blanket of forest under a clear, cloudless sky, painted a stirringly familiar orange of the many dawns he'd taken in here. It had grown significantly cooler in the prior weeks, for which he was thankful. The cool shift reminded him that fall was being ushered to the village. The proof laying in the mildly browning leaves.

He was snapped out of his reverie by Sakura's voice. "Oi, Sasuke we have to start from scratch you know! We need to get going!" She all but exclaimed, feeling the need to shout because he wasn't just a few feet closer.

"Yeah Teme! Pull the lead out!" The blonde chimed in, he expected it.

For a brief moment in time, he felt something far stronger than déjà vu. The feeling teased a smirk from his mouth before a short scoff escaping as his feet carried him to the awaiting group, welcoming him again with warm smiles. Warm, welcoming smiles he didn't think he'd see again.

* * *

So goes the 13th chapter. I'm kind of pleased with the progression of this work in general. I re-read it, and i'm pretty pleased with what i'm attempting to accomplish. With respect to this fic in general, It will be coming to an end soon. The next work i'm actively lining out with be much more Sakura/Sasuke centered. I just felt this was necessary to set the stage for that, a prequel of sorts.  
It started out so sad, but i'm so happy it's significantly more positive. The sequel will build on what this instilled, it everything occuring in this, will be important in the sequel in some way or another. (Can I just say... GO HUMAN ELEMENT!)  
To make up for my lack of recent updating, i'm posting another chapter, more of a treat than anything. Again, thank you to everyone who reads, favorites, follows and reviews. It seriously makes my day.


	14. Dirt, The Great Equalizer

Because I LOVE making myself a liar, this is a chapter in Kakashi's perspective. It suits the purpose nicely! Enjoy

* * *

Set amidst a quickly approaching dusk, it would be an easy thing for any outsider to miss. In the span of field, amongst the newly erected wood skeleton which would, in time of course become someone's home, laughter resonated from a group of three young people.

For most who would come across this sight, they would chalk it up to the normal shenanigans of the young being young.

For those (like himself) who knew the roiling group in question, this was something far more significant.

The silver-haired, albeit minutely aged Jounin watched the ruckus intently from the perch of the tree overlooking the property his once 'charges' were commissioned to.

From what he could tell, clumps of earth were being pelted unabashedly at one another in what he assumed only to be good faith.

The sight itself was enough to tear him from the false musings of his orange-covered novella, depositing the piece of 'literature' into his back pocket for retrieval at a more convenient time.

He had been charged by the Hokage herself to keep an eye on the young Uchiha, from a distance. To watch and refrain from interfering no matter what the expense. Of course, the report would follow and she would make him revise it for 'proper' grammar.

Now, the Kakashi of another life of course had taken his Hokage's orders as nothing short of gospel handed down by the Gods collectively.

However, the slightly older, more world weary version of himself had resigned that notion, seeing now that the world is not so black and white as he had once imagined. His hand raised to the faint scar resting under the very useful hitai-ate, there were times and places for rules and regulations. He knew this as a man.

Conversely, when an opportunity presented itself… you took it. He knew this as a shinobi.

He silently, not just quietly, dislodged himself from the rather comfortable nook in the ancient tree's trunk and sturdy branch before relinquishing himself to the ground where he fell into one of his most effective concealment crouches. Execution of this type was the most stealth dependent after all.

With a firm piece of the slightly damp earth resting tauntingly in his gloved hands. He did what Kakashi Hatake always did. He evaluated his options, as he worked the glob of earth into a seemingly sturdy ball, rolling it between his hands.

As always the master of seeing 'Underneath the Underneath', he could note the subtle changes in the young man since his induction back into his native land.

He would be a pointed liar if he said that he'd always had hope for Sasuke Uchiha. However, the young man's actions spoke louder than all the apologies and tears shed ever could.

Earth working between his hands still, he allowed his mind to take him down this particular trail it was intent on sniffing out to it's conclusion.

In the few years the younger Sasuke was under his tutelage, he had never once seen the boy go out of his way, much less burden himself with aiding anyone else.

Since his reintroduction, he had assisted without qualm or prodding. There was something different, the words and definition failed him, much to his utter annoyance.

Kakashi's impeccable perception was certainly earning it's money's worth in respect to the pet project of Tsunade he had been nastily charged with.

Since his voyeuristic surveillance, he'd seen the young man help his former team mate, his subconscious adding 'the one he ridiculed and called weak', he'd helped civilians and shinobi alike. During the first few weeks of the rebuild, (which he was quickly deciding couldn't possibly have been a better form of probation/rehabilitation/recognition) he was distant with the same air that had followed and stuck to him since he was a kid. At first he only assisted when directed.

Then he started asking people if they needed assistance.

Then he was obviously able to deduce on his own, that someone needed something and he seemed to be more than obliged to assist without asking, much less saying a word.

A few times, he'd caught a rather impressive toothy smile leave him, but only in the presence of his former cell mates, the forever illustrious Team Seven. His former squad-mates were never privy to the "Feat of Nature'.

It was then, Kakashi was finished evaluating the situation.

A smile teased the dark cloth of the mask covering the lower portion of his face.

Handling the clump of dirt in his hands, much like a baseball, he waited for the opportunity to present itself, patiently every bit the good shinobi he was.

In the distance, amidst Naruto who was noted filthy and doubled over in earnest laughter, was Sakura collapsed on the ground, hand covering her mouth laughing with unmatched effort and every bit as filthy as Naruto, and there stood Sasuke. Covered in dirt, laughing, and utterly defenseless. Something the older Jounin thought was lost forever on the young man.

There was his opportunity. Sasuke's eyes shut tightly from the bout of laughter escaping his body, only going silent when he felt another all too familiar clump of earth pelt him relentlessly in the dead center of his pale forehead.

The pair accompanying him went silent before looking in Kakashi's direction. He waited for the accusatory finger point and upon seeing it, the jounin turned around and exited into the forest offering his trademark goodbye greeting as he left.

The laughter roiled again and Kakashi smiled.

Yup, no more detail duty for him.

"_Tsunade can stick that in her bottle and slam it"_ he thought convincingly to himself as he dusted the earth from his black gloves.

Oh yes, there would be many, many revisions to this report. Hell, probably even an in-person Question and Answer session. He scoffed just slightly, sometimes he wished he'd listened to some people more than others growing up.

* * *

I know I said this would be Sasuke's point of view entirely and it kind of is but this idea struck me and it worked with where I was at in the story. As I said in the prior chapter. There will be a sequel which will be very Sasuke/Sakura centered. (I'm working the outline out at the moment, and I must admit, it's coming along much faster than this fic ever did.

Like always, reviews are appreciated. Thank you to everyone who has followed, alerted and favorited this work. :) Seriously, makes my little grinch heart glow.

I'm working on a crack-fic right now, this thing has me mentally waterlogged from time to time lol. (Should be interesting considering it's Akatsuki themed and i've authored a good chunk of it on cold meds, antibiotics and pain relievers- all from the doctor lady... Promise :)


	15. Something Like A Haunting

A memory from what felt to be another life played intently behind his eyelids as Sasuke dreamt.

From what he could remember, it was the first dream he had in quite some years. It was familiar and safe. Something comforting and lost on him long ago.

He found himself sitting on the aged dock overlooking the expansive pond of his childhood home. The ripples playing upon the mirror like surface caught the sun in such a way, any other person would have been moved.

His long legs hung easily off the edge, his toes touched the cool water which was pleasant as it was a sultry day, the sun hanging high in the sky only amplifying the temperature.

It felt far too real, but still he didn't fight it.

He could smell the aroma of the pines wafting across the lake, mixing with the mineral scented water. It took him back to a time before the before. Before all of the hate and confusion. It brought him peace.

"It's easy isn't it?"

Startled from his reverie, the female voice chimed in again. This time, it didn't sound filtered, it was crystal clear and he knew that voice very, very well. He had missed it for far too long.

His eyes scanned his surroundings frantically, hoping with all hope he could see the origin of that long forgotten voice.

Standing tall from the dock, he turned around slowly, almost frightened that the sudden movement would send the specter into non-existence.

With her kind eyes, and her ever gentle aura. He saw his mother, and she saw him and he was greeted with her stately smile.

She took a step toward him, her long black hair getting caught in the wind and playing against her face casting a wisp of shadow across her porcelain face. The wind carried her scent to his nose and Sasuke was beyond convinced this was real.

"Well?" She queried, in her soft and gentle voice.

His will shook.

The years of training, hate, malice, hurt, pain, loss, grief, sorrow and confusion were all washed away and the only thing left was a raw and bare canvas.

He choked on his words. Again, too scared to say a word for fear she'd vanish.

"Always my gentle little soul, my Sasuke." She said kindly before moving closer to him with all the grace he had ever remembered her to possess.

Heat. He felt heat radiate from her body as she held him to her and it scared him.

Perhaps it was nothing more than a cruel joke but in this moment in the confines of his dream it brought him such amazing peace.

Bringing his arms around her small waist, he felt substance. The silk of her yukata cool to the touch even in the blazing sun.

He shut his eyes tightly and felt as if he was a small boy again. A small boy in a time where an embrace with his mother was not something uncommon.

"It is so good to see you! I can't believe how you've grown! I know you'd be handsome but I really had no idea." She said as she pushed him gently from her so she could get a good look at him.

"But I believe that's because you've always favored me ne?" She smiled and he found himself smiling along with her.

Her small hands rested upon his broad and world-weary shoulders before moving up toward the curve of his jaw where she moved his face back and forth.

"Yes, you certainly took after me!" She exclaimed before laughing.

Still too shocked to say a word he allowed her to examine him closely. She peered into his eyes and a look of heart break came across her pristine face.

"Oy, How I wish you didn't have those." She lamented before resting her finger upon his eyelids.

He hung his head low and felt shame. She placed her hands under his chin once more and directed him to meet her gaze.

"I suppose this is what had to happen though. A curse is a curse after all. I just wish it hadn't been my boys who had to bear all of this." She said somberly.

"I'm so happy you can hear me now. I've been trying to reach you for years Sasuke but there was always something keeping me from reaching you. This is a blessing that you can hear me now." She said as a tear threatened to fall from her onyx eyes.

He looked at her quizzically.

She smiled warmly as the lone tear fell from her thick lashes.

"With all you've gone though my sweet boy, I figured it would take some time for me to reach you. I just had no idea that so many people fought so hard to keep you in their hold." Sadness etched across her face that struck him in his chilled heart so deeply he felt it may stop beating.

She raised a hand to his cheek and another tear fell as she took in the feel of her youngest son's skin.

"But you were always my son, as was Itachi. No matter the rain that fell upon my family I never stopped loving either of you. Itachi did what he must. I just wished with all of my heart that you had been older, keener to the workings of our clan to know that it was shrouded in deceit." She trailed off.

"I was your mother first, before anything I was a mother to my boys and I wanted so desperately to protect you both. Perhaps I failed by sheltering you as I did. Itachi was certainly your father's son but you, you Sasuke were mine. I love you so much, do you know why that is?" She asked a gentleness radiating from her very person.

He shook his head to the negative.

"I wasn't as skilled as Itachi." He said coolly.

She chortled before replying "because Sasuke, I knew your heart. You were always so loving. Do you remember when you would have bad dreams and come into my room crying? Wanting nothing more than a hug." She asked, laughing animatedly.

He deadpanned and looked at her incredulously.

"Now, now. No one will know that the Fearsome Sasuke Uchiha used to sneak into his mommy's room crying from thinking a monster was under his bed." She chided before smacking his cheek affectionately.

"You wore your little heart on your sleeve and that is why I loved you. Your father loved you in his own way too, he was just too busy, with the things that didn't really matter. You are wise enough to know now what the most important thing in life is don't you?" She asked, face beaming.

He quirked a thin eyebrow and waited patiently for her to continue.

She sighed, cocked her head and smiled.

"Family. Family is the most important thing in life Sasuke. You know that because you showed me, even though you went about it in the most backward way possible." She said before locking eyes with him in a way that made him tremble just like he was a little boy who'd broken her vase, he knew she was displeased with his course of action and he actually felt a little regret. He cast his eyes toward the wooden beams of the dock.

"Now, now don't be so sensitive" She said, lightness in her voice that comforted him.

"Just remember that family isn't just your father and I, Itachi and your cousins. Family can be all of those people who loved you in much the same way as I did. I must say... That little Uzumaki boy gets under your skin but I think you like that about him, he doesn't let you dismiss anything. Which is a bad habit you've gotten into young man... you had better stop that." She stated directly.

He certainly remembered this as his mother from his child hood. All gentleness and grace but she knew exactly what he needed to hear when he needed to hear it. As she always had.

"Sakura... she is a beautiful woman." she said in such a way that made him break his steady focus upon the ground and look into the older woman's face where he was met with a knowing grin.

"Well, I already know, so you don't have to say anything... But Sasuke. You've made a fine mess for yourself. Not many women I know would ever give the boy they had a crush on in academy the opportunity to kill them, and then welcome them back into a fold. Young man, I had better never and I mean EVER see you do something so stupid as to turn a blade to your friends. I was more disappointed then in you then than I was when you went to Ororchimaru. I'm afraid that little skirmish dealt a lot of damage to that young lady... But it's your choice; no it's your DUTY to make that right. Boys are forgiving... They will fight and draw blood and then the fight will be over and amends would be made, but women, well women are an entirely different beast." She sighed before placing her hands to her sides and exhaling deeply.

"You had better wake up now or you'll be late for work you know..." She said before the clearing fizzled into nothingness.

His eyes opened and focused on the off white of the cracking ceiling.

As he got himself ready for the day only one thought was present in his mind.

Yeah, he supposed he was long overdue and deserved that tongue lashing.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the less than timely updates. At least I can state i'm not a liar. Yay! We found out who the little voice of conscious was! I'll get on weekly updates again, promise. :) Thank you all for being so patient with me, a trick to getting me to actually update on a regular basis is to Review, comments or suggestions are welcome :) Thank you again for being so patient with me!


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